Bad attitudes about solo diving are still prevalent

[2airishuman]

I still get surprised.

Posted about a (solo) shore dive in a local facebook group and the discussion quickly shifted to how I was going to die because I'm a solo diver.

And I avoid a local dive club whose newsletter every month has the tag line, "Dive safe, dive with a buddy."

I'm willing to educate people who want to be educated but most won't listen. It's frustrating.

 

[Marie13]

I don’t have a problem with solo. I do take issue when inexperienced divers attempt it or attempt it at the local quarry where it is allowed - if you’re solo certified. Don’t want the idiots to ruin it for the rest of us.

 

[Barnaby'sDad]

I don’t have a problem with solo. I do take issue when inexperienced divers attempt it or attempt it at the local quarry where it is allowed - if you’re solo certified. Don’t want the idiots to ruin it for the rest of us.

Well...maybe if experienced divers would buddy up with newbies, newbies wouldn't feel the need to just show up to a quarry, hope to find a buddy, and consider going it alone if they can't find one.

Ex. I drove two hours to a quarry yesterday and tried that. I'd been messaging (here and elsewhere) attempting to line up a buddy, with no luck.

I've lost track of how many times an experienced diver has either told me to go buy-a-buddy (take classes to rack up my dive count) or said "oh" when they processed that I just have a OW cert. I get it...only going to 30-50' of depth instead of doing a deeper dive and not going into deco on a single dive is a significant imposition for them.

Lots of people are interested in giving newbies advice, but not many seem interested in diving with them. INB4 "I'm an experienced divers and I dive with newbies all the time."

 

[MaxBottomtime]

I don’t have a problem with solo. I do take issue when inexperienced divers attempt it or attempt it at the local quarry where it is allowed - if you’re solo certified. Don’t want the idiots to ruin it for the rest of us.

This is part of the problem I see on the internet. Fortunately, I never dive places with attitudes like this. What part of Open Water training is it that makes people think divers have to be dependent? Why do they believe solo divers need to be certified as such? Most of the divers I know and have known for decades would laugh if someone told them they couldn't dive solo, especially without a certification.

 

[Barnaby'sDad]

This is part of the problem I see on the internet. Fortunately, I never dive places with attitudes like this. What part of Open Water training is it that makes people think divers have to be dependent? Why do they believe solo divers need to be certified as such? Most of the divers I know and have known for decades would laugh if someone told them they couldn't dive solo, especially without a certification.

That is essentially the gist of OW training and the philosophy of diving in the quarries in my area. If you dive alone and you don't have a solo or self-sufficient cert...you're going to die.

That's overlooking the fact that the site I was looking to dive at is 25+ minutes from the closest first responders, so you're pretty much going to croak if you have a medical emergency at their location...submerged or surfaced.

 

[EireDiver606]

My attitude has changed about solo diving since I first started diving. I think solo diving is a tricky issue in terms of inexperienced vs experienced divers doing it. New divers might see someone else doing it, and therefore try it themselves before the time is right for them personally, and thats unfortunately when fatalities occur and solo diving gets a bad reputation.

Context for solo diving is very important.

I'm not for it nor against it but I can certainly understand why the majority of divers are against it. I'd rather solo dive than have a dangerous buddy/team, but if I have a good buddy/ team, its team diving for me all the way.

 

[chrisch]

...
I've lost track of how many times an experienced diver has either told me to go buy-a-buddy (take classes to rack up my dive count) or said "oh" when they processed that I just have a OW cert. I get it...only going to 30-50' of depth instead of doing a deeper dive and not going into deco on a single dive is a significant imposition for them.

I guess if someone has driven to a quarry to do a particular dive the idea that a complete stranger says "hey, dive with me as I need you and just ignore your own needs" is something they might not get on board with.

I'm going to the supermarket later, I'll report back if I can get someone to pay for my groceries.

 

[Barnaby'sDad]

I guess if someone has driven to a quarry to do a particular dive the idea that a complete stranger says "hey, dive with me as I need you and just ignore your own needs" is something they might not get on board with.

I'm going to the supermarket later, I'll report back if I can get someone to pay for my groceries.

Discussing online ahead of time. I'm not talking once showing up at a quarry.

I showed up, the only group that was there was an instructor with students. I didn't even ask (as was suggested by the person working there), because I didn't want to be "that guy."

Yesterday was my first and last attempt at doing that (showing up without a buddy).

 

[Gareth J]

I don't really have an issue with solo diving.

I have dived solo, and will again I'm sure.

There are however two observations.

1. I have always been a member of a club, which is a norm' in the UK, but appears unusual in the rest of the world.
As such, we teach our own divers, buddy them, take them diving, build their experience.
Diving on 'club' trips, we follow the rules of our agency; buddy diving, occasionally diving in groups.

2. There is a miss conception that PADI OW, or AOW means an experienced diver. Unfortunately, in most cases this is far from the truth.

Solo diving requires a certain mindset, and I would suggest, a minimum equipment configuration. A lot of those who ask about it, don't take account of those two factors.

There is another issue. The risk of legal liability if you are in a group (even if you are not part of it), and someone dies. If they are diving outside of the 'agency' recommendations, and you didn't interject, you can become embroiled in legal issues. This happened in Malta not so long ago. You don't have to eventually be found guilty of any wrong doing to have it really **** life for a while with legal costs etc.

I have had the unfortunate experience of dealing with the authorities in three fatality cases.
Once in France, once in Malta, and once in Scotland. Very quickly, one of the questions to answer was were they diving within recommended practices. Did they break procedure. What if any 'rules' where broken. Who was the most experienced person and what did they do ... or not do.
In some jurisdictions, you have to prove innocence, rather than they prove guilt! (Napoleonic legal frameworks).

One country I would hate to get embroiled in a legal case would be the USA. Where law suites seem to be thrown around with impunity. Insurers in the UK require you to ask for specific cover for the USA, because litigation is so expensive in the USA. (Similarly for medical cover).

 

[drrich2]

What's true of divers and dive shops is also true, to some extent, of destinations - some are more 'solo-friendly' or 'hostile' than others.

Researching Curacao, I noticed Ocean Encounters and Dive Bus forbid it. Go West Diving's website includes this blurb "Solo Diving is not allowed under any circumstance(s)," but a former employee indicated if you're solo certified & have proper equipment they'd allow it, and awhile back I e-mailed Go West and confirmed that was still the case. Here's a piece from the e-mail I got back in early August from Go West

"On Solo diving, we still have the same opinion Andreas had given you.

We do not, nor will we advertise with Solo diving at the moment.
We do accept solodivers that have all the equipment needed in redundancy, so if you have a 2 computers, 2 regulatorsets, a slate, extra mask, extra signaling devices, and so on....

You can rent tanks with us, that won’t be a problem.
But, like I said, we do not advertise with solo diving at the moment."

Compare that to the 'dive freedom' of Bonaire. And if you just enjoy contentious discussions vainly trying to get to the bottom of why a restrictive policy is in place, start a thread determined to solo shore dive on Grand Cayman.

Why is solo diving the 'red-headed step-child' of scuba diving? (Hoping the figure of speech is widely understood).

Richard.